Architect Frank Lloyd Wright made it easy for the owners of his Houston home to take a dip in their swimming pool:

His design for the bathroom featured the narrow vertical opening pictured above – a door that swings out over the pool’s edge!

Seeing the house on Sunday was quite a treat; additional photos (and notes) from my visit can be found here.

During the visit, we learned Mr. Wright never visited the site, and he didn’t envision the house being air conditioned – he thought natural ventilation would be adequate. The original owner who commissioned Wright (in 1954) to design the home insisted that AC be included. Wright complied; the design solution involved the placement of air registers in the home’s concrete floors.

In addition, we learned the current owner bought the house in 1991, after the New York Times ran this story – Houston Journal - A House With a History May Not Have a Future - NYTimes.com. From 1991-95, the owner renovated the house, removing up to six layers of paint (in shades of pink and white) in some areas, and expanded it, adding some 7,000+ square feet of space. In the living room, ceiling tiles were removed, exposing the angled ceiling, and a banquette and other furniture was built from specs found in the home’s original plans.

Let’s hope that future owners are as good stewards of the home’s architectural heritage as the current one.